


A Story of Semi-Broken Promises

by vintage_grace



Category: Anne of Green Gables (TV 1985) & Related Fandoms, Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery, Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: Anne with an E (TV): Season 01, Anne with an E (TV): Season 02, Anne with an E (TV): Season 03, F/M, Renew Anne with an E
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-13 20:07:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29034390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vintage_grace/pseuds/vintage_grace
Summary: Clara WIlliams has lived in Avonlea for most of her life, and she's known Gilbert Blythe for just as long. Despite the rough start to their friendship, the pair have always been there when they needed one another because of a promise they made as children.They were promised to never leave the other alone, but it's not how it worked out.After his father's death, Gilbert left on a journey to find himself, leaving Clara alone and lost. While he's gone, Clara does her best to make it through the challenges life throws at her and ends up finding herself. It's not until Gilbert comes back that either of them realize the rift that one broken promise caused.Can they go back to how it was before? Will their feelings for each other finally be admitted? Or will the two of them remain friends for the rest of their lives? And most importantly, how much damage can a broken promise cause?
Relationships: Gilbert Blythe/Original Female Character(s), Mary Lacroix & Sebastian "Bash" Lacroix
Kudos: 4





	1. welcome!

Hello, dear reader.

If you're here, you're probably of fan of the Netflix original show, Anne with an E, or the original series, Anne of Green Gables. Either way, I'm glad you're here and am very excited to share this story with you!

This story originally started out as a short idea I wrote down in the spur of the moment and showed a friend, but now I am excited share the expanded version of the same idea. All of this is thanks to my dear friend, Emma, who this book is dedicated to. She was the one who asked and inspired me to further develop this story since we're both fans of the show.

I look forward to sharing this with you and all getting to hear your thoughts and reactions. The first chapter will be posted before too long, but until then, feel free to browse my other stories, or ask me more about this story!

Also, if you've already started this book, and you're wondering why the chapters are all gone, it's because I got inspired and decided I wanted to include a whole lot more in the book and am restarting it.

And as always, stay wonderful. Xx

–Sai


	2. Chapter 1

I don't remember most of my life. It's small things though like what it was like before we came to Avonlea, the sound of father's voice, or when things started to fall apart.

Of course, the latter didn't just happen one morning. I think it was more like rolling down a hill. It starts off so slowly you never think to worry, but you quickly pick up speed and keep tumbling with the terror and wonder of how or if you'll ever stop.

I'm still waiting to stop rolling.

It's difficult to think that it's been a year since we lost Henry, yet it simultaneously feels like only this morning I woke to find the fire had died out and taken my baby brother with it. He would have been running around and causing trouble for Mamma and I by now if things had been different.

I can see it written across Mama's face too. The pain of wondering what could have been if we hadn't lost Henry and Papa. Maybe we wouldn't be struggling to make it through each day, or at least, maybe the house wouldn't feel so empty all the time. Some days I swear, the table gets bigger with each passing month, or perhaps I just feel smaller.

"Maybe you two could become friends." Mama says, and it's only now that I realize she must have been talking while my mind wandered away.

"Par--pardon?" Her eyes soften in understanding, and I stare down at the toast on my plate. "I'm--I'm--I'm sorry, Mamma. I got dis-distracted again."

"I know." She smiles softly and continues, "I was just saying that yesterday Miss Lynde was telling me how the Cuthberts adopted a girl about your age. Apparently she's quite a spirited thing, which makes me think you two would get along splendidly."

"I look forward to m-meeting her then." I put on a smile in the attempts to cover the worry tearing through my head. It feels strange to hope that the other girls won't just accept her into their group, and I scold myself for the mere thought.

It's just been rather lonely these past few weeks. Gilbert and his father left to visit Nova Scotia for a while, and the other girls make no effort to speak to me other than to remind me that Ruby has 'dibs' on my closest friend, which means I shouldn't be seen or converse with him.

Perhaps this new girl will provide a needed bit of change.

I carry the dishes in the sink and help Mama clean them up. "Now, since it-it looks like Daisy won't make an es-escape attempt t-t-today, you best be off to school."

"Then I best be off before she gets any ideas that leave me traipsing through the mud after her like yesterday." Mama just laughs as she hands me my basket with my lunch and my books once I have my sweater on. "Goodbye!"

I head out the door, stopping to admire the wild roses growing near the fence that divides Grovershire from the Blythe's orchard. They pour a delicate perfume into the slowly chilling air, and I breathe it in deeply as I head towards the edge of the forest.

It's one of the few things I enjoy about going to school. Most people thing I'm strange, but the forest doesn't hold any opinions of people. It just offers that quiet peace that makes everything feel so profound. I stop walking for a moment and close my eyes to listen to the birds chirping and the sound of the leaves rustling in the breeze.

"You know, if you're not careful, you'll end up being late." A familiar voice calls out, and I immediately look for the source. Sure enough, a few feet down the path stands my dearest friend.

"Gilbert!" I shout and smile at him. "When--when did you get back?"

"Late yesterday afternoon." He replies as he nears me. "I would have come to tell you, but—"

"It's alright." I interrupt, knowing he likely won't want to talk about his father much. "I'm j-just glad you're--you're back. Avonlea see--seemed dull without you around."

A crooked grin tugs at his lips as he quirks a brow at me as we start to walk towards school. "Is that so?"

"Very. I had no one to--to help me chase after Daisy."

"She still finding ways to escape?"

"It's Daisy. So of--of--of course, she has. Not to m-mention, there was hardly anyone to t-talk to while you were away." I watch my feet brush aside some fallen leaves, and continue before he can say something, "What was the district of Alberta like?"

"Beautiful. I think you'd like it there."

"M-maybe one day I'll go there too."

"I don't doubt it one bit." He nudges me with a small laugh. "After all, when Clara Williams puts her mind to something, it's bound to happen."

"So says Gilbert B-Blythe." I add, but the happy mood between us turns dour when we spot Billy Andrews a little farther down the path in front of a scared looking girl. Gilbert and I share a knowing look. Both of us know Billy's reputation, which means neither of us can walk away in good conscience.

"Hey, Billy!" He calls as we both approach them. "How's it going?”

Billy's eyes widen in surprise at the sight of Gilbert, but when they fall on me, an evident sneer pulls at his lips. He looks back to the unfamiliar girl for a second before speaking with a sour tone. "Hey, Gilbert."

I leave Gilbert's side and approach the girl, whispering to her as Gilbert handles Billy. "Are—Are you alright?" She looks at me with wide eyes for a moment before nodding. "It's okay. Bil—Billy wouldn't dare try anything with Gilbert around."

The girl still looks terrified though, and I take her arm in mine to reassure her. "We should probably get to school, eh?" Gilbert pointedly asks Billy. "Hate to be tardy. Mr. Phillips sure gets his dander up about that."

"Yeah. I was just about to get going." Billy pauses a moment to glare at the girl and I with that mischievous glint in his eye. "See you there."

Once he's gone, I bend down to hand the girl her things as Gilbert asks, "You alright, miss?"

I can clearly see the panic in her features as she takes her stuff and avoids looking at either of us, mumbling something about school as she starts to rush off.

"You're welcome." Gilbert says for her, which earns him a glare from me. "Need anything else? Any dragons around here need slaying?"

"No, thank you." The girl calls back, which makes me smile.

"A girl who sl-slays her own dragons? Sounds like someone after my--my own heart." I laugh and walk to catch up with her.

Behind me, I can hear Gilbert asking, "Who is she? Who are you?"

I shoo him off as I catch up with her, the anxiety of speaking to someone I hardly know making my stutter emerge in full force. "I apolo—apologize. Gilbert can be quite out--outlandish when he's trying to—to figure something out." She offers me a timid smile that I take as a good sign. "I'm Cl—Cl—Clara."

"Anne—with an 'e.'" She whispers back, and I nod happily.

Meanwhile, Gilbert continues to follow us, calling out to Anne in the attempts to learn her name. "What, you can't tell me your name?" I shake my head at him, but he doesn't seem to notice. He just catches up to us as we near the schoolhouse and rushes to open up the door. "Here. Here, allow me."

"Thank you." Anne whispers, and I hold back for a moment.

"So you're fin--finally learning how to--to be a gentleman?" I tease but glance over at Anne. "I don't think you should be too--too forward. Bil--Billy seemed to have scared her."

"I'm only trying to be nice."

"Yes, well, sometimes you--you go a little too far that you miss 'nice' by a mile."

Anne turns back to us as we follow her in. "I'm sorry if I was rude. I'm Anne."

"Um, I'm—"

The boys in the class finish for him as they erupt in cheers of 'Gilbert' and pull him away. "As you can t-tell that's Gilbert, and you already kn—know that I'm Cl—Clara."

"It's positively a pleasure to meet you." She tells me softly. "Sorry, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to put my milk in the stream." I let her go, hoping to find where I'm supposed to sit now that Anne is here and the other girls surely will have changed the arrangement, which means I'll be having to find a new seat against whoever is feeling tolerable of me today.

The only available place is next to Tillie, who looks quite upset when she sees me place my books down at the table. I try not to dwell on it and get distracted by the boys' conversation. They're all surrounding Gilbert and peppering him with questions. "Why were you walking with that orphan girl?"

"Why not?"

"She's a loon." I think Moody says, and I can feel him looking over at me for a moment. I know he's thinking about whether or not to say something about me to Gilbert, but he must thing better of it and leaves it be.

"Says you."

"Hope you didn't get any asylum cooties." Charlie Sloane adds, which makes me roll my eyes. Boys can be so ridiculous.

I glance over and watch as Gilbert looks around in mock horror before his eyes focus on Charlie's sweater. "Uh oh. There's one." He says as he hits Charlie's nose when the latter looks down. "Besides, I don't care where she's from. A cute girl is a cute girl."

It'd be a bold faced fib if I tried to say that didn't hurt. I can't explain why. Gilbert is my dearest friend, and I don't know why him showing interest in someone seems to bother me so much. I do my best to push it aside as I take my milk outside so it can stay cold in the stream.

Outside, the clique of girls are standing over Anne. "You can't talk to Gilbert Blythe. You can't even look at him." Tillie says, to which I simply sigh.

"Just look for yourself. Ruby has liked him for three years. She has dibs." Josie Pye snaps as she wraps an arm around Ruby. "There, there. That nasty girl didn't know any better."

I have to bite my tongue to keep from saying something snarky to Josie, but if i did, it would only make things worse for Anne. It seems the last thing she needs is me causing further issues with the other girls.

"I'm sorry. I didn't walk with him. It just happened." Anne defends and looks at me. "You can ask Clara, if you don't believe me."

"It's t--true. We just met her when we were wa--walking the same path to school. She shouldn't be bl-blamed for a coincid-dence."

"Of course, you'd defend her. You're just as bad." Josie snaps at me. "A word of advice to both of you that I suggest you take—stay away from Gilbert Blythe."

"I will. I promise." Anne tells them with the utmost sincerity. "I'll have nothing to do with him."

I choose to make no such vow as it would be nearly impossible to avoid Gilbert knowing how he is once he sets his mind on something. Not to mention, our properties are right next to each other. So even if I wanted to avoid walking with him, I'd have to leave either long before him or risk being late to school by waiting for him to leave.

Diana glances at me with a pleading look before her eyes settle on Anne. "I'll try to smooth things over."

"I wouldn't take--take what they say to-to heart." I whisper to Anne as I sit down on the ground beside her. "People around here can almost al-always find someone to-to be upset with over the most t-trivial thing, but it won't be l-long before they move on to the next th-thing."

"Then why do they dislike you so much?" She asks, still visibly upset.

"Because, Gil-Gilbert and I have been close friends for most of our lives. When Ruby started to fan-fancy him, they wanted--or should I say ex--expected me--to no longer be friends with him, but he can be obliv--oblivious and persistent-tent at times. So that never happened, and now they treat me like a--like a sort of pariah."

"That's tragic." She tells me, and I try not to dwell on it.

"Well, my mo-mother always says, 'people will se--seldom believe themselves wrong, and rare-rarely think enough to change their opi--opinions.' But I still imagine that thi--things can be diff--different than they are."

"I do that too. Marilla often has to scold me for getting caught up in the most wonderful of daydreams."

"Mama has to do the same to me." I tell her with a laugh and wonder if Mama was right. Maybe and I will end up as friends, and things will be a little different. I push myself to my feet and offer a hand to her. "But we should probably get inside before we're late for class."

"You know, Clara, I feel as though we are kindred spirits." Anne smiles as we enter the schoolhouse.

"I have to ag-agree." I return her smile as we both take off our sweaters before settling in our seats. Gilbert offers me a curious look, but I just ignore it, still a little sore from his comment earlier. So I keep my gaze locked forward and become interested in my books as Mr. Phillips starts the day's lessons.

Mr. Phillips seems to be in a particularly dour mood today. "Open you readers to page thirty-two. We will read aloud Barry Cornwall's poem, 'The Fisherman.'"

I try not to sink down in my seat at the idea of reading aloud. It's not that I dislike reading, but the task of reading aloud. The solace and comfort I find in the pages of a book seems to evaporate when I have to speak the words in front of others, which makes my stutter worsen. It seems that people and my own nerves are to blame for it, and there's only a few exceptions to it--like Mama and Gilbert.

My heart pounds in my chest as Mr. Phillips calls on Diana to start and quickly makes her stop as he calls her reading 'perilous.' I make sure to keep my head down as he looks for the next person to continue. A small bit of relief comes when he calls on Anne.

She's quite enthusiastic as she reads, "O'er the wild waters laboring far from home, for some bleak pittance e'er compelled to roam."

I listen in wonder as she speaks with such enthusiasm and passion, but my classmates on the other hand seem to find it amusing as they laugh at her. Still, Anne continues on entirely unfazed by their apparent mocking. "Few hearts to cheer him through his dangerous life and none to aid him in the stormy strife. Companion of the sea and silent air, the lonely fisher there must ever fare. Without the comfort, hope, with scarce a friend, he looks through life and only sees its end."

As she finishes, the laughter doubles and erupts throughout most of the room. Of course, all Mr. Phillips does is tell her to sit down and ignores the disruption. I watch from my seat as Anne looks around, her smile slowly fading as she takes in our classmates.

The chaos only seems to quiet as Mr. Phillips calls on Josie Pye to read the next poem, but it seems so dreary compared to how lively and emphatically Anne read. I rest my head on my hand and patiently wait for the lessons to pass by for lunch.

I let out a sigh of relief when it finally comes, and luckily, I make it out with my sweater and basket before anyone can pay me any mind. There's a wonderful breeze that brushes against my face as I grab my milk and settle down in the sun for lunch. 

Well, until someone's figure blocks it, that is. "I was wondering where you had run off to." Gilbert says as he settles down next to me, and I try to make a point of avoiding his gaze. HIs comment from earlier is still ringing through my head and digging an aching whole in my chest. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes," I mumble and try to think of an excuse when my thoughts from this morning come back around, "I've just been thinking a lot."

"Which is a good thing to do."

"Even when it's about Henry?" I ask and suddenly lose my appetite. "It's been almost a year, you know."

"I know." Gilbert whispers back and brings something into view. I look over at him to see a perfectly ripe apple in his hand. "Any chance this might help cheer you up? I brought an extra one for you."

"What is it with you and apples?" I ask with a half smile and take it from him.

"Well, I do live on an orchard." He teases and looks over his shoulder, "I was actually thinking of giving mine to Anne. Maybe then she'll actually speak to me."

"I wouldn't do that. If she wants to speak to you she will. Pushing her to do so won't help anything." I try to tell him, but of course, Gilbert only hears what he wants to hear.

"I won't know unless I try." He tells me as he stands up and approaches Anne. I shake my head and fiddle with the apple he gave me. It's only a moment later when he comes back, looking puzzled as he takes his seat again. "She told me she's not supposed to talk to me."

I stay quiet, knowing precisely why she said it, but knowing that Gilbert wouldn't understand if I told him. So, I just tell him what I hope he will. "Then maybe it's best you just give her some time? I'm sure she'll come around." He nods, but i have a feeling that he won't take my advice on the matter.

Sure enough, as class resumes, Mr. Phillips has us working on math equations, and while his back is turned, I notice Gilbert throwing balls of paper at Anne to get her attention. When that doesn't work, he grabs the apple from the edge of his desk and creeps across the gap between the boys' and girls' desks.

I watch with wide eyes and worry as he sets the apple on the edge of her desk and says something to her that I can't quite hear. When Anne doesn't make any point of acknowledging him, Gilbert pulls on her braid saying something about 'carrots.'

Of course, Anne reacts, which i can't blame her for, by swinging her board at him and hitting his face and shouting, "I'm not talking to you!"

Gilbert seems entirely unfazed and offers me a crooked grin before looking back at Anne. "You just did."

I avoid looking at him as Anne is called to the front. My heart breaks for her as she's called to the front. "What a vicious display!" Mr Philips shouts as he erases the equations we were supposed to be solving. "Is this what they taught you in that orphanage? Unacceptable."

My nails press into my palms, and I tremble in my seat, struggling to contain my frustration. Of course, Mr. Philips neglect to consider what made her so angry. Worse yet, Gilbert was the cause of it in the first place.

Now Anne is forced to stand there as Mr. Philips writes 'Ann Shirley has a very bad temper.' I genuinely wish I could take her place. It wouldn't be the first time Mr. Philips was scolding me to stay put and stand in front of whatever he had decided to write on the board about me. "Let this serve as a lesson to you, that we do not tolerate such displays of temper, here in a civilized society."

If you ask me, the more civilized thing to do is show compassion, but what would I know?

"It was my fault." Gilbert interjects as he stands to his feet, sounding upset, and rightly so. I can barely muster the courage to look at him, "Sir, I, um, I--I teased her."

Mr. Philips doesn't seem to care though. Especially as he says, "Quiet, Blythe. That's hardly an excuse." The class erupts in another round of laughs at that, and I ball my hands into fists to contain my anger. "Quiet, all of you, and return to your lesson."

I struggle to focus on the equations Mr. Philps calls out. Especially when I watch Anne standing at the front, bearing what must feel like the weight of the world on her shoulders. She moves without blinking, without regard for the shouts that echo behind her.

Anne just opens the door, grabs her hat, and runs.

It's then that I find myself suddenly envious of her. Because even in her pain she manages to be courageous.


End file.
